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Old 06-11-16, 01:05 AM   #1
Chromatix
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Join Date: May 2011
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Default In the Radio Room (build 144)

Continuing my observations on the current state of the game, and how they compare to real submarine operations:

The radio room in HMS Marulken is small but well-equipped, and it's clear that the developers have paid a lot of attention to it, relative to the rest of the boat. The sonar and radar equipment works well, and while the encryption machine is not entirely realistic, there is a justified gameplay reason for its simplification.

I find it slightly strange that the radio room is at the aft end of the control room. Normally the hydrophone heads are mounted well forward, away from the noisy machinery, and it is more logical to locate the sonar receiver closer to the hydrophones so as to minimise the signal wire runs. On most WW2 subs of all nationalities, the radio and sonar rooms are just forward of the control room and very close to the captain's quarters.

I recommend making the gain knob on the sonar receiver have a logarithmic rather than linear response, as that is more intuitive and useful. As others have noted, there should be both relative and absolute bearing indications. British practice regarding relative bearings was to call them as "Green 9-0" for a contact on the starboard beam, or "Red 4-5" for one on the port bow; a three-digit number was then unambiguously an absolute bearing. I have no idea whether Swedish practice was similar.

I would also have provided a switch between wide/narrow modes for it, rather than a continuously variable width control, as the latter was not available (and would have been very difficult to implement) on real equipment of the time. A switch is more plausible since it could be between two different types of hydrophone head (eg. rotating bar (JP, KHB) for wide, and phased array (GHG) for narrow). In narrow mode, background noise should be significantly attenuated relative to signals that remain within the field.

Real sonar equipment operated in both sonic mode (heard sounds directly reproduced at the earpiece) and ultrasonic mode (heard sounds heterodyned down to the audible range). There were advantages and disadvantages to each, but in particular ASDIC equipment was often ultrasonic, especially the later, better-performing units.

The radio sets require more attention. Currently we are expected to believe that German destroyers routinely transmit on 7 kHz, which is all the way down in the ULF band; 7 MHz would be much more believable. Admittedly this impression is given by the mission briefing rather than the radio itself. may offer a better template for the frequency dial design.
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